Former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly has failed to impress the new Chairman of the Selection Committee, Dilip Vengsarkar as the former hasn’t found a place in the Rest of India Squad for the 44th Zal Irani Trophy. Ganguly had failed to perform with the bat in the two innings he got to play in the just concluded NKP Salve Challenger Trophy. According to Vengsarkar, the Challenger Trophy wasn’t the last opportunity for Sourav and the doors aren’t shut for him. Rest of India plays Uttar Pradesh in a five-day encounter at Nagpur starting on the 9th. India’s Test Opener Wasim Jaffer has been named as the Captain of Rest of India.
Upcoming youngsters Robin Uthappa, S Badrinath and Rohit Sharma make it among the batsmen while Hyderabad’s chinaman bowler, Pragyan Ojha finds a place in the squad as well along with India U19 medium pacer Yo Mahesh. Dinesh Kartik through his explosive performances in the Challenger Trophy has edged out Parthiv Patel for the wicket keeper’s berth. The pace department has Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Vikram Singh along with Yo Mahesh while Murali Kartik, Bengal offie Lahiri and Ojha are the spinners. VVS Laxman has failed to find a place in the squad as he is nursing a hamstring injury which had ruled him out of the Challenger Series.
Interestingly this is only the first Irani Trophy match for Uttar Pradesh as it was only last season that they had won their first ever Ranji Trophy Championship.
Rest of India : Wasim Jaffer (Captain), Y. Venugopal Rao, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, S. Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik (Wicket Keeper), Vikram Singh, S. Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Sourashish Lahiri, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh